The fight outside Chuckie's
by Ghostsammeo
Summary: Hwoarang is impressed when Asuka holds her own in a fight in America's toughest bar, but when he attempts to talk to her, he discovers that they communicate best through fists rather than words. HwoarangxAsuka.


The fight outside Chuckie's

* * *

Chuckie's Saloon was a horrible place.

The lights, which only managed a dim, orange glow, flickered endlessly and the wooden planked floor was watered with spit, blood and vomit. The people inside were unfriendly. It was a haven for big, burly men who loved to pick fights with one another over drinks, gambling, arm-wrestling or even at times, for no reason whatsoever.

Hwoarang felt at home as soon as he kicked open the front door, stepped out of the nights cold air and took a whiff of the bars interior: sick, beer and sweat; just how he liked it.

The biker had been in the old US n' A for a Taekwondo tournament, one that he of course was going to win. Frustratingly he had got the date stupidly wrong and now had a whole week to kill before the tournament started. In true Hwoarang fashion, the only place he knew he could spend his nights would be at what was voted the worst bar in the southern US; where he could drink, fight and ultimately – once past kicking some guy's face in – laugh.

The red head entered the building, clothes and hair dripping with rainwater. After dodging a couple of flying bodies, he made it to the bar counter where he sat on one of the many free stalls.

After ordering a drink he turned to digest the scene once more.

The fighting appeared a popular choice tonight it seemed. Men kicked and punched and whacked each other over the head with bottles and pool cues. Shouts and cries, curses and laughter filled the room.

In-fact, amongst all the fighting, Hwoarang almost missed the **girl **sitting in the corner of the room, a crowd of people surrounding her.

Curiosity getting the better of him Hwoarang stood and wandered over to the scene.

Here it made sense. The girl (with a face Hwoarang recalled from somewhere else) was in a fierce arm-wrestling competition with a small, pig-looking man, who was constantly swearing at the thought of being beaten by a woman, as his arm lowered and lowered closer to the table.

"Enough!" The pig-faced man suddenly yelped as he pulled his arm away, "This ain't right I can't arm-wrestle with a woman can I? I have an unfair advantage!"

"You're just saying that cuz you were losing, now hand over the cash, you lost!" The girl instructed, extending a palm, ready to accept the twenty-dollar bill firmly kept in the man's left hand.

"No way! It's like I said you're a woman, I couldn't go proper on you now could I sweetheart? I'd be too strong," The man continued with his excuses.

Hwoarang noted a certain glint in the girl's eyes as she stood up, her face furrowed.

"Let's fight for it then!"

The pig-faced man was caught out for a second by the proposal but then began to laugh, his friends chortling with him. Hwoarang watched innocently between the two of them, him being the only one not involved in the incident.

"I'm not gonna fight a girl either! Go on, run on home sweetheart, I don't know what you're doing in a place like this but you're gonna get hurt speaking like that!" The pig-face barked with laughter.

Hwoarang watched in amusement as the girl with an angry shout suddenly lifted the pig-faced man up and over the table and onto his feet on the other side.

"Hey what you think you're doing you little bitch, I-"

He was cut short as he found himself flying backwards, hitting a friend into the wall behind.

Hwoarang raised an eyebrow. Had the girl seriously just punched a grown man off his feet?

The crowd turned in silence to the girl who stood triumphantly over the two men on the floor.

The pig-faced man attempted to stand up at once, but after wobbling about for a second and muttering something incoherent, he fell back down onto his friend who was just readying himself to stand.

The girl smiled to herself, took the bill out of the man's hand, feigned a smile at the crowd, including Hwoarang, and trod off towards the bar.

Hwoarang burst into laughter as the others tended to the floored twosome. Hwoarang of course cared not about the pig-faced man; he was too busy being entranced by the fighting girl.

Cracking his knuckles, Hwoarang wandered back to the stalls, taking a seat next to the girl who was admiring her money, speaking to herself in Japanese.

As she admired it, her brown eyes narrowed for a second, then she turned to Hwoarang as if she had just realised something.

Quickly Hwoarang looked away, fearing looking like... well... a strange, staring creep. He glanced once however, to find the girl still staring at him. Eventually he turned around.

"What?" he spat rashly.

"You," the girl said, "You're a fighter,"

Hwoarang nodded slowly. Didn't everyone fight in this joint?

"You've been in the King of the Iron Fist tournament!"

Hwoarang broke a smile, "yeah, I was. You seen me on T.V or something?"

The girl's eyes narrowed again, this time much more dangerously, "**No**, I'm a fighter too,"

Hwoarang was about to burst out laughing in her face but before he did, managed to pin-point where he had seen the girl's face and thusly stopped himself.

She had been at the tournament hadn't she? Yeah, he had seen her, fighting some blonde French girl in the fourth round.

"You don't believe me?" She hissed.

"No, no I do!" Hwoarang nodded quickly, "My names Hwoarang, and yours?"

"Asuka," the girl smiled, apparently content with the fact that Hwoarang had accepted her as a fighter, "Asuka Kazama,"

Hwoarang, who was all ready to cheerfully reply, froze at the name. A Kazama? A fighting Kazama female? A relative of the bastard Jin!

"Well I gotta say, it's nice to have another proper fighter here. All these guy's act tough but I've been here for awhile and they're all just..." the girl trailed off when she noticed Hwoarang staring daggers at her.

Frowning she turned to the barkeep and ordered a drink then turned back to Hwoarang, to find him still staring at her with hate and suspicion.

They sat in what was an awkward silence for Asuka, the noise of all the fighting and laughing taking a backdrop.

Fidgeting in her seat Asuka raised an eyebrow then eventually spoke, "There a reason you're looking at me like that eh?"

Hwoarang's facial expression changed in the blink of an eye as his body jerked, "What, huh?"

He was seemingly unaware that he had just fallen into a trance of hate-glaring at Asuka at the mention of the Kazama family.

"I said why are you staring at me like that?" Spat Asuka.

Hwoarang, annoyed at her dirty look, sneered, "What facial expression? There was no facial expression!"

"Yes there was, you were glaring at me for some reason, so shut up,"

Hwoarang hated being told to shut up, "You shut up!"

"No I said it first, **you **shut up!"

"I don't care that you said it first, just shut up already!"

Asuka stood up, stall legs screeching backwards. She stuck a finger into his face, "**Shut **up,"

Hwoarang stood up and came face to face with her, "You think cuz you're a girl I won't hit you, I'm not like that pig-face guy I **will **hit you,"

"I don't care if you're the pig-faced guy or a really hot guy, I'll knock you down either way!" was Asuka's retort.

Hwoarang was about to shout at her something about him hitting anything, even puppies, when he paused.

"Really hot guy?"

Asuka was still glaring at him when she realised what he was getting at. Blushing she sat down quickly and began chugging down her drink.

Filled with confidence and a chance of mocking a Kazama, Hwoarang rested his elbow on the bar, chin in his hands, giving Asuka a big cheesy smile.

Asuka, avoiding Hwoarang and still blushing, continued to chug down her drink. Her eyes were kept in front of herself, but one quick glance to see what Hwoarang was doing made her spit out her drink.

"What?" she tried to shout, beer falling out of her mouth like a miniature waterfall as she did so.

Blushing again at how clumsy she was looking, Asuka threw her head to the side to avoid Hwoarang's cheesy and mocking smile.

Hwoarang plopped down onto his stall and turned it to face Asuka.

"You said something," Hwoarang began, "About me being hot?"

"No I didn't, shut up," Asuka said quickly.

Hwoarang was about to get annoyed, as he **really **hated being told to shut up (even though he did it all the time himself) but composed himself and continued smiling.

"Oh, I think you did," Hwoarang said, smirk plastered on his lips, "It's very nice of you to say but I didn't need to be told, I think it's safe to say I'm comfortably the hottest guy in here,"

"Well it's not hard," Asuka muttered, finally turning her head.

Hwoarang flashed a genuine grin, "So you admit I **am **the hottest guy in here?"

Asuka blushed furiously again, "Yes but I didn't mean it like that and you... hey listen I'm speaking! I didn't mean it like that I-"

"Nah, nah I get you," Hwoarang continued teasing, "You're into me I get you,"

Asuka, spluttering with anger, stood up again, "**SHUT UP**!"

A few heads turned to the noise.

Hwoarang, who had enjoyed teasing her, could not take being told to shut up anymore it appeared, and stood up himself.

"You shut up!"

"No I said it first, **you **shut up!"

"I don't care that you said it first, just shut up already!"

Asuka shoved the man's shoulder, invoking various '_ooo's_' from the tough onlookers.

Hwoarang's eyes narrowed as dangerously as the girl's had before him.

"You think I won't hit you cuz you're a girl? I'm not like that pig-faced guy I **will **hit you!"

"I've told you already! I don't care if you're the pig-faced guy or a really hot guy, I'll knock you down!"

This time Hwoarang was about to say something about him hitting anything, even baby seals, but then realised that Asuka had once again fallen into the same trap.

Hwoarang promptly burst into laughter, a tear running down his cheek as Asuka grew steadily red.

Along with Hwoarang's stupid laughing and all the big ugly faces grinning at her, Asuka snapped.

She took a twirl to build up strength and then with one big, hard kick sent Hwoarang flying across the room.

That stopped his laughing.

The bar was silent for this fight.

Underneath a pile of broken chairs and a legless table, Hwoarang stirred.

The man behind the bar turned to the grinning Asuka, "Hey, you're paying for all that! You can't just..."

He was cut short as Asuka went flying away, a table the cause.

The man froze, and then turned to Hwoarang who stood at the other side of the bar, blowing wood shavings off his shoulders.

"You're paying for that as well!" he cried.

Hwoarang flipped the guy his middle finger before marching towards the front door.

Asuka on the floor and in pain noticed this as she winced upwards.

"Hey, where do you think you're going?" She yelped.

"If you wanna fight," Hwoarang shouted out behind his shoulder, "Let's do it properly."

Asuka scrambled to her feet and led the crowd of people out into the rain where Hwoarang stood.

The men stopped by the door. Faces filled up at the windows as everybody prepared to watch the coming battle.

Asuka stepped into the mud and grimaced as her hair become heavier immediately due to the rain.

After cursing in Japanese she steadied herself to fight.

"You ready for this, huh?" She said with a slight smile playing on her lips.

Hwoarang shrugged casually, "Anytime Kazama, anytime,"

They both stood still for a few more seconds, readying themselves. Then, Asuka ran forwards.

Firstly her kick made contact but Hwoarang countered with a barrage of kicks of his own. The two continued to trade blows, their feet and fists meeting in midair.

"**You're**. **Really**. **Frustrating**," Asuka hissed through gritted teeth as Hwoarang dodged around her strikes.

"I thought I was hot?" Hwoarang managed to say as he sent some kicks of himself Asuka's way.

Asuka paused after taking a kick to the chest and growled, fed up of being reminded about her slip of tongue, "Shut up!"

Hwoarang paused, considered going in for another kick, but his childish nature got the better of him, "You shut up!"

"No you!"

"No you!"

"**No **you!"

"No you!"

The shouting went on in the same vein for a while longer. So much longer in-fact, that the watching bystanders left dejectedly back into the bar, giving up on the fight which seemed to have no end.

The shouting match eventually came to an end with Asuka swearing in frustration.

The two locked eyes in the pouring rain.

By now their clothes were dark with moisture and mud stained their ankles.

Breathing heavily more from shouting than actual fighting, Asuka took one last run up at Hwoarang, intent on kicking the living daylights out of his infuriatingly attractive face.

Then, as she jumped up for the kick, the worst possible thing happened.

Her foot slid upwards, mud shooting into the air with her as she catapulted forwards and upwards, cascading into Hwoarang who let out an uncharacteristic, high yelp. Together they stayed in the air for a second, before crashing back down into the dirt.

Hwoarang was dizzy. He had seen Asuka run up and slip, and for a second he had burst into hysterical laughter at her antics, before her foot was planted firmly on his crown. Moaning with pain he went to prop himself up onto his elbows, but found the weight of Asuka's body on top of his keeping him down.

She too was beginning to stir and though Hwoarang wanted to tease her for landing on top of him (for though he originally wanted to mock her because of her relation to Jin, he actually found himself enjoying the cute, annoyed look on her face) the pain would not let him.

Blinking, she looked up at Hwoarang and quickly leapt up from his chest with a squeal and landed in the mud next to him with a splat.

They were both absolutely filthy. Asuka's hair was plastered down with wetness and mud stained both their clothes and skin.

"Well... that was a big fat failure," Hwoarang commented after awhile, wincing as he rubbed his head.

Asuka, embarrassed and staring upwards at the twinkling stars, nodded.

They were both exhausted and each could tell the will to fight had been drained out of the both of them.

Hwoarang now did prop himself up, elbows squelching in the mud, "Listen, Asuka,"

Asuka looked up at him from her lower position on the floor.

"Hm?"

"I was thinking, you're a pretty good fighter, and I respect that an all... so I was wondering if you wanna start again?"

Asuka propped herself up now and turned her head to him, "You mean like in the movies where they say hello all over again to symbolise a new start?"

Hwoarang raised an eyebrow, "I mean more like we go back in the bar, share a drink, kick some ass and see where the night takes us,"

Asuka nodded slowly, "Yeah, sure,"

The two stood up, grinned at each other and marched back into the light of Chuckie's Saloon; soaking wet, caked in mud, flirting and laughing.

The night had only just begun for the two fighters and Hwoarang had found who he was going to spend his spare week with.


End file.
